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Minister hails MAREP as an opportunity for reducing poverty

St. George’s, December 7, 2011 – Environment and Foreign Trade Minister, Hon. Joseph Gilbert, is optimistic of the role a newly launched government programme will play in reducing unemployment in the country.

He has described the Grenada Market Access and Rural Enterprise Development Programme (MAREP) as an “excellent mechanism to improve the lives of our people, particularly in our rural communities.’’

Mr. Gilbert, who is also Minister of Export Development, made the remarks at the recent launch of MAREP at Belmont Estate in St. Patrick.

“The Grenada Market Access and Rural Enterprise Development Programme offers us an opportunity to reduce poverty,’’ said Hon. Gilbert, who is also MP for St. Patrick West. “The programme will contribute to the development of our vulnerable, young unemployed or self-employed men and women in 50 rural communities throughout Grenada and Carriacou.’’

In addition, said Mr. Gilbert, “MAREP will give our young people hope and an opportunity for enhancing their social and economic well-being. It will reduce reliance on high-priced food imports by strengthening the agricultural sector and promoting entrepreneurship.’’

Here is the text of the address delivered by Minister Gilbert.

Ladies and Gentlemen: I am extremely delighted to be with you today at this the official launch of the Grenada Market Access and Rural Enterprise Development Programme (MAREP). I, also, add my voice of welcome to those of you who have joined us for this important activity.

Ladies and gentlemen, over the past three-and-a-half years, this administration has focused its attention on the stabilization of the Grenadian economy at a time when most of world’s major economies have been experiencing one of the worst recessions in recent history.  Our most important trading partners, such as the United States and Britain, continue to grapple with high unemployment and other challenges directly related to this global recession.

Because the economies of the world are so interconnected, it is not surprising that we in Grenada were caught in the middle of a crisis that was not of our own making. As Tourism Minister Honourable Peter David pointed out earlier this week, while addressing the national conference to chart the way forward for tourism: “When the developed economies of North America and Europe sneeze, we in Grenada and other small-island developing states catch the flu.’’

Relatively speaking, however, we in Grenada have not done too badly in weathering the global crisis. That is because we took some very bold decisions; decisions that were not always popular, but certainly necessary for our economy to grow, once the recession is over. In fact, information recently released from the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank shows that we have already begun to see the benefits of some of those measures.

It is against this backdrop that we are now working to get our people back to work. Today’s launch of MAREP, therefore, is a major step in achieving that objective.

The Grenada Market Access and Rural Enterprise Development Programme offers us an opportunity to reduce poverty.  It provides an excellent mechanism to improve the lives of our people, particularly in our rural communities.

The programme will contribute to the development of our vulnerable, young unemployed or self-employed men and women in 50 rural communities throughout Grenada and Carriacou.

MAREP will give our young people hope and an opportunity for enhancing their social and economic well-being. It will reduce reliance on high-priced food imports by strengthening the agricultural sector and promoting entrepreneurship.

Brothers and Sisters, when others were preaching gloom and doom, we were working hard preparing for the launch and implementation of MAREP – a project that is designed to provide hope and a brighter future for our people.

MAREP will provide the necessary support for our young people to develop meaningful businesses in several areas; for example, agri-business; apiculture and honey production, to name but a few areas.

Ladies and gentlemen, MAREP is the latest in a number of programmes which this administration has developed and implemented to reduce vulnerability at the community level.

Some of these programmes have provoked criticism from many of our detractors, who would prefer to keep our people in a state of dependence and ignorance; where they will continue to seek handouts from politicians.

But we have taken the view, that as far as is possible, we must give the necessary hand-up to our people to become more self-reliant. We are determined to support all Grenadians who require the tools that will lift their standard of living, improve their social conditions, and help them to stand on their own two feet.

In other words, ladies and gentlemen, we recognize that when people feel good about their ability to provide for themselves and their family, their self-esteem is lifted; and, therefore, they are better positioned – psychologically – to make a more meaningful contribution to their community and their country at large.

This is the reason why – even before taking office in 2008 – we made the commitment to introduce the Free School Books’ Programme for every Grenadian student. We truly believe that investment in our children must be given maximum priority.  It is an important investment in our most important resource – our people – especially our children.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is in keeping with our determination to invest in education that we are now discussing areas of reform in our education system so that it caters both for those who are academically inclined, and those whose appetite is for technical skills, sports and culture.

We all agree that Grenada needs doctors, lawyers, engineers and the like. But we also need farmers. We need skilled workers: masons, carpenters, plumbers, boat-builders and artisans.  We need more professionally trained dancers and singers; and we need to produce more professional athletes like Kirani James of St. John, Rondell Bartholomew of St. Mark and Lottysha Cato of St. Patrick.

Ladies and gentlemen, in 2011, government provided scholarships to scores of Grenadians to pursue college and university degrees. Some are studying here at home, while others have gone off to study overseas in countries as far as Morocco and China.

Several teachers are now at the St. George’s University receiving training. We acknowledge the fact that teacher-training not only helps to improve the knowledge-base of educators, but also aids them in providing a better service to our nation’s students.

Ladies and gentlemen, in the 2011 Budget, when we announced EC$12.6 million for Youth Development, it was a deliberate strategy for increasing employment and developing our young people; whether it was through skills’ training, education or entrepreneurship. Our investment in the area of Youth Development is a targeted response to address some of the key issues coming out of the Poverty Assessment Report on Grenada, which was published in July 2008.

The report revealed that young people, between the ages of 15 and 24, account for 42 percent of all unemployed persons in Grenada; of that amount, young men represent 47.6 percent.

Some of that budgetary allocation for Youth Development has been utilized to help those who had good business ideas but who needed capital to get their project off the ground and create employment.

Persons who were forced to leave school prematurely now have a second chance to do their CXC O’ Levels, with assistance from government through the Youth Upliftment Programme.

This administration, therefore, has not just put people in government offices to pad-up the employment figures; we have provided meaningful training with certification for those who are engaged in our programmes.

Ladies and gentlemen, in the last three-and-a-half years we have seen a resurgence in the interest of young people in agriculture. This is substantiated by the increased registration of young people at the Maribeau Agricultural Training School, and their high level of involvement in the Grenada Agricultural Forum for Youth. These are, indeed, encouraging signs for the future of agriculture and agri-business in Grenada. Greater opportunities are available now, more than ever before, for our young people to earn a decent living while preserving their dignity and self-esteem.

In addition, ladies and gentlemen, we recently launched the Energy for the Poor programme. Under that programme, we distributed stoves to persons who were still using wood as a source of energy for cooking.

Several families benefited from this programme. This initiative has great economic benefits; but it also has a positive impact on our environment by reducing the need for persons to cut down trees for fire wood and charcoal to use as a source of energy.

So even as we champion the cause for greater conservation and environmental friendliness in the international community as chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), we are playing our part at home to change the way we do things in order to improve lives and protect our own environment.

This administration has not just asked you to get involved in our country’s development. We have engaged you in tangible ways. We have done so by providing our agricultural sector with heavily subsidized fertilizer; through our farm labour support programme; and through the provision of agricultural machinery and seeds to our 4H Clubs. We have stood side by side with our farmers and those involved in agriculture, including our young people.

We have established the only ICT Centre of Excellence of its kind in the OECS. The ICT Centre, too, is targeted at meeting the needs of our youthful population; a population keen to adapting to the growing global use of ICT and Internet-based services.

Even while we are implementing these programmes at home, this administration continues to seek partners who will acknowledge our values as a people, and who are willing to help us develop our country.

Our search is ongoing for international assistance to get a number of major private sector projects, which have been stalled as a result of the global crisis, up and running again. Unemployment remains a nagging problem for us, and we are eager to put our people to work.

Brothers and Sisters, when Prime Minister Tillman Thomas announced our government’s two-year work programme recently, it signaled that the strategic foundation for economic growth we promised was now in place and that we were changing gears. MAREP must be seen as a key aspect of that foundation. The Market Access and Rural Enterprise Development Programme has arrived; it is now up to you to take the ball and run with it.

The foundation has been laid, and the resources are available. I, therefore, urge you to make complete use of the assistance and resources being made available to fulfill your dream; to build your own business or product which, in turn, would help provide valuable employment within your own community.

We commit to working with you, through MAREP, to help you to develop your skills, your product, and your business. We know that when you succeed Grenada succeeds.

On behalf of the Government and people of Grenada, I want to express our appreciation to the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for their support for this programme. Without your efforts, we would not have been here today.

Thank you very much and may God bless us all.

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